Browsing by Author "Kelchen, Robert"

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    Exploring Potential Federal Policies to Improve College Match
    Kelchen, Robert (American Enterprise Institute, 2015-08-04)
    A small body of research has examined strategies to increase college enrollment rates, which would improve the percentage of students who match with any institution of higher education. These strategies include allowing students to submit standardized test scores to an additional college free of charge, assistance completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), text message reminders of importance deadlines, near peer counseling, and supplemental guidance counseling. All of these strategies are relatively inexpensive, making them potential private-sector or institutional-level approaches to mitigating undermatch. In this article, the author discusses each mechanism through which the federal government can potentially improve college match, focusing on current policies and practices as well as what else could be done to potentially influence college match. He, then, addresses some of the concerns and limitations of possible federal policies before concluding with recommendations for policymakers.
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    Minority Serving Institutions as Engines of Upward Mobility
    Espinosa, Lorelle L.; Kelchen, Robert; Taylor, Morgan (American Council on Education, 2018)
    Minority serving institutions (MSIs) play an integral role in the education of students from low-income families and communities of color where educational attainment is disproportionately low and income mobility can be stagnant. With a commitment to serve the nation and their surrounding communities, MSIs are engines of upward mobility for millions of students, and play this role even while the majority of MSIs are at a financial resource disadvantage when compared to non-MSIs. In this brief, we use the newly released Equality of Opportunity Project data to examine the upward income mobility of students who attended MSIs compared to students who did not. The findings shed important light on the value of MSIs as a viable path up the economic ladder for millions of students and reinforce the value proposition of higher education as a path to greater prosperity for individuals, families, and whole communities.
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    Recommendations for the Effective and Equitable Implementation of Performance-Based Funding for Wisconsin Higher Education
    Hillman, Nicholas; Kelchen, Robert; Goldrick-Rab, Sara (Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE), 2013-02-01)
    Historically, the state’s colleges and universities have received state appropriations based on funding formulas that reflect a combination of student enrollment at the beginning of the fall semester, mission-specific funding, and funding received in past budget cycles. While this approach helps provide stability and fiscal certainty for educational institutions, it also includes a potentially perverse incentive to focus on enrolling students rather than graduating them. Drawing on the latest empirical evidence, the report aims to provide a fair treatment of the potential benefits and costs of a PBF approach to funding higher education in Wisconsin. Then, it points out forth several recommendations aimed at ensuring the effective and equitable implementation of a PBF model, with the hope that a carefully designed and thoughtfully executed effort will lead to successful outcomes for all adults seeking a postsecondary education in the state.
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    Will Impending Reforms in Federal College Loan Programs Hurt Black Students and Families?
    Goldrick-Rab, Sara; Houle, Jason; Kelchen, Robert (Scholars Strategy Network, 2014-10-14)
    Borrowing from federal government loan programs to finance college is now commonplace for American undergraduates. Half of all college students had such loans in 2011-12. The typical senior has accumulated about $20,000 in debt – and total college loan indebtedness had grown to more than $1 trillion by 2011-12. Repayments for more than one in ten loans are currently at least ninety days overdue, and the delinquency rate has doubled over the last decade. With lower incomes and less wealth overall, black families have a greater need to borrow to send their sons and daughters to college – and black students are twice as likely as whites to have student debt. This report points out some recommendations for reforms to the Higher Education Act.